Sleeping
by Lepidissima
Summary: A drabblish sort of fluff. Todd muses while Mrs. Lovett sleeps. (Set if Lucy had died when she took the arsenic and/or Todd hadn't killed Mrs. Lovett, etc.)


If you had told Sweeney Todd that one day he would be lying in bed with his former landlady asleep in his arms, he would have laughed in your face, and probably punched you for good measure.

But now he gazed down at her sleeping figure and couldn't imagine life any other way. Benjamin Barker was long dead, as was Lucy, and finally even Turpin. He was eager to move on and find the happiness he knew Lucy would have wanted for him. After the initial storm – an anguish the likes of which he hoped to never suffer again – a certain calm had settled over his life, and he found himself more than willing to love Mrs. Lovett. However, he remained his brooding, often dangerous self, and adjusting to contentment and peace was a completely unfamiliar experience. But Mrs. Lovett would be patient. She had always been as indulgent as one could be around Sweeney Todd.

She was absolutely lovely, even in the dim light. Her hair was neither sleek nor golden, rather a sort of curly burgundy mess, but it suited her. Her eyes were not sky blue and they did not shine with a cool gentility, but they were brown and sharp, always expressive and always dancing. She was not tall and slender, but short and curvaceous, yet her presence demanded attention and an odd kind of respect despite her lack of height or grace.

And even her name – he did not call her darling, my beloved, beautiful. He occasionally called her pet or dear. He wasn't even sure how he knew her first name – Eleanor, he thought it was – because she had never asked him to call her anything but Mrs. Lovett. And in return, she always called him Mr. T. The names had stuck.

She was incomprehensible, this woman, who had thought it would be nifty to bake people into pies and put up with his terrible moods and help him achieve his revenge even when he lashed out at her. She had been patient with him through everything and even managed to love him wholly despite his temper, his passivity, his obsession with what had used to be. She had shown him how to feel again, taught him how to love.

Even as Barker, she had loved him. He may have suspected, back then, but never thought it would amount to anything. And he was certain she loved him more now, as Sweeney Todd, broken and violent though he was. She had told him, one cloudy night, that this new man was much more exciting, much more romantic. He had merely rolled his eyes, but her enthusiasm had been as charming as ever.

He didn't deserve her. She loved him too much for her own good, and the worst part was she was fully aware of it. She chose it. She could've left, run off, slammed the door in his face. But she took him in immediately, knowing from the beginning that she was risking more than heartbreak.

Todd reached out and stroked her face, gently, not daring to wake her and break the spell. He loved moments like this. She looked so calm, still and silent, for once not talking or running about, just lying close to him. A slight twinge of remorse struck him when he noticed the faint lines around her eyes. She was working herself too hard for him. Todd leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Mrs. Lovett's mouth twitched. Todd watched in amusement as she tried and failed to suppress a smile. "You're awake," he said softly.

"No I'm not," she whispered loudly, scooting closer to him. "Dunno what you're talking about."

What an idiot. He dropped a kiss in her hair and she actually giggled. He was rarely this affectionate, and she was loving it. But it was one of those nights where he thought too much, and all he knew right now was that he never wanted to lose her. He leaned his forehead against hers and sighed.

"What's the matter with you?" she whispered, opening her dark eyes and looking at him in that peculiar way of hers. "You're never like this."

He played with a strand of her hair. "I don't know."

She was looking at him intently, and it occurred to him not for the first time that she was quite clever, cleverer than he could ever hope to be. Maybe she was only half-literate and maybe she couldn't do more math than what was required to buy groceries, but she certainly knew people well. She knew Todd too well. She was conscious of his uncertainty, his fear of disrespecting Lucy's memory. She could read him like a book, he realized as her curious eyes roamed his face, and he found that he didn't really care. She loved him in spite of his blaringly obvious flaws, and he could not help but love her back.

As if she could tell what he was thinking, she grinned a little, before yawning spectacularly into his face. It might have been cute had her breath not been so foul. Todd grimaced and demanded, "Was that necessary?"

She snickered and closed her eyes, lying her head against his shoulder. "I love you," she murmured in reply. "I always will."

He felt an absurd urge to thank her, but that didn't seem to be the right response. Instead he only drew her closer and whispered, "I love you, too."


End file.
